International Chocolate Bar Challenge - M&Ms

For years I've had the impression that chocolate bars in Europe are better than Canada, and Canadian chocolate bars are better than American.  I've always said this, but I've never actually tested it.  I've tasted the same bars from these three different regions, but never at the same time.  Well that's all changed, now I've collected chocolate bars from the US, Canada, and Europe, and I'm going to do a blind taste test each week.  When I taste these bars I won't have any idea which bar is from which place.

This week's treat might be a little bit debated, M&M's.  The only reason I think it might be debated is because it's not really a chocolate bar, but more of a chocolate treat.  I figure the main ingredient is chocolate, so it's worth comparing.

The difference in this treat was predictable in taste, but surprising in colour.  Pile one (CAN), which I guessed was either American or Canadian was pretty much what I've come to expect from M&Ms.  Crunchy shell, average chocolate center, not as smooth as chocolate Smarties, but not bad either.  Pile two (EU), I guessed right by assuming they were European.  The difference in the quality of the chocolate was amazing, it was much smoother and the chocolate had almost a fruity flavour. The third pile (US) was almost exactly the same as the first pile, so I had a hard time guessing where it was from, Canada or the US.  The only difference was in a strange aftertaste that I couldn't really place.

Although the flavour and texture difference was expected, I didn't expect there to be any differences in the colours, but there was.  It's most obvious with the orange coloured M&Ms.  The European orange was so much duller than the US and Canadian M&Ms.  In fact all of the European colours were more muted than the North American M&Ms.  There was also a few subtle differences between the American and Canadian particularly with the Canadian yellow being brighter, and the US red being darker.

CC